This invention relates to methods and apparatus for shaping material by the use of acoustic energy.
There are many industrial processes which require the molding of materials while avoiding contamination from the walls of a mold. For example, optical glass which is to be formed into waveguides, and silicon which is to be formed into solar cells, must often be formed into complex shapes while avoiding even slight contamination. Our U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,732 on "Material Suspension Within An Acoustically Excited Resonant Chamber" describes techniques for suspending masses and shaping them into simple geometric shapes by the application of acoustic energy of frequencies resonant to the chamber. However, in many applications, more complex shapes are required.